During construction, excavation, or at other times, vegetation and soil may be disturbed. Often, construction results in exposed soil on hills or slopes. For example, construction on the side of highways may result in slopes having no vegetation and exposed soil. If left untreated, the exposed slope may result in significant erosion, discharge, and pollution to storm drains or watercourses.
Some traditional treatments include deploying terraces and slope roughening. To roughen a slope, the exposed soil is worked to create horizontal grooves, imprints or depressions that are parallel to the slope contour. This roughening must be done for the entire surface of the slope so that runoff and erosion are reduced. The depressions may trap sediment and allow vegetation to reclaim the soil. Creating the grooves in the soil can be time consuming, expensive, and demanding on equipment.
Some ways to rough soil include use of special attachments to a front end loader, use of special blades, or navigating a continuous or endless track vehicle on the slope. For example, a bulldozer is driven up and down a slope. The track of the bulldozer creates depressions in the soil. This is often a tedious process as the bulldozer typically has two tracks and must create impressions over the entire surface of the slope. Further, the repeated navigation up and down a slope adds to the work hours for the bulldozer and can reduce the expected life of the bulldozer.
Thus, there remains a need for an apparatus to roughen a slope with more efficiency, reduced cost, reduced time, reduced man hours, and increased effectiveness. Moreover there is a need for an improved method of roughening a slope.